Rest In Peace: Tom Cable and Oakland Raiders Head Coach Rumors

  On Black Monday (the first day of the off-season for non-playoff teams) ESPN reported that "Al Davis is 'inclined' to fire Tom Cable" and every other sports outlet assumed he would be gone within a week.  At his Monday news conference (on Black Monday) Cable said he would meet with Al Davis "sometime next week."  Media reports claimed that the meeting would be on Monday, January 11th and after Monday had come and gone there was no announcement from the Raiders. 

  After that, reports said anyday it would happen and it happened (the meeting) on Thursday, January 14th.  After there was no second day of  face-to-face meeting between Davis and Cable reports began to pick-up again saying Marc Trestman, Jim Fassell and Jim Harbaugh were candidates and Al Davis was interviewing them to be the 2010 head coach.  At that point, it seemed like Cable's days were numbered.  CSN (Comcast Sports Net) began to send reporters to the Alameda headquarters facility all day, every day for a while waiting for an announcement.  

  Then the wind changed.  Trestman, Fassel and Harbaugh all denied the reports that they had talked to Al Davis about being the 2010 head coach.  On January 22nd, the Raiders announced a coaching change.  Mike Waufle was returning to Oakland (where he worked from 1998-2003) as the D-line coach and he had past experience with Tom Cable, 6 years at Cal.  Then another blast from Cable's past.  Hue Jackson ( who worked with Cable in 1990 and 1996) was hired to be offensive coordinator. 

  But the reporters took one last shot at the Raiders, they started rumors that Hue Jackson was a head coach candidate.  Those rumors never seemed to realistic considering that Waufle and Jackson's hirings were based on working with Tom Cable in the past.  Then the death date of the speculation, Monday January 25th.  Tom Cable and his staff went to Mobile, Alabama to scout college prospects in the Senior Bowl game and practices.  Cable spoke with reporters in Alabama and said he was still the coach. 

  After 3 weeks (January 4-25) , the specualtion is over, it is almost 100% certain that Tom Cable is going to coach the Raiders in 2010.  Even the largest rumor-monger of them all, ESPN's Adam Schefter, reported Tom Cable would stay.  He went on the air several times during the first week of the off-season to say Cable was going to be fired, it never happened.